702 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 23 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Farm sales for September amounted 
to $142.48, the best month’s business we 
have done thus far. We would like to 
have reports from other small farmers 
for comparison. We give only actual 
sales in this account. The summer’s 
work has given results that will not 
show in cash until next season. For 
example, we have 200 good hens that 
could not be duplicated for $125. There 
are three acres in small fruits, and eight 
acres of Crimson clover that are earning 
future value for us. Besides this, the 
barn is stuffed to overflowing with fod¬ 
der, but we shall count none of these 
things until they are turned into cash. 
Most of the crops have been sold. There 
are small sales of eggs and milk every 
day, but all we have left for regular 
marketing are turnips and squashes. The 
turnips were sown broadcast with Crim¬ 
son clover on August 14, and have made 
an excellent growth. They are bringing 
20 cents per basket, and sell as a sub¬ 
stitute for potatoes. We made a bad 
blunder in not starting our late cabbage 
early enough. 
X X X 
We sold the potatoes as fast as they 
were dug, and now have less than half a 
bushel on hand. We estimate that at least 
20 bushels rotted in the ground. We 
should have dug and sold at once when 
the vines died. The Orphans lived long¬ 
est, and the rows that were dusted with 
fungiroid gave the best yield and showed 
least rot. Potatoes will be classed as 
luxuries at Hope Farm this winter. 
We shall buy sweet potatoes and use 
baked squash, corn meal, rice and maca¬ 
roni as substitutes. So many people 
are planning to do this that it does not 
seem likely that potatoes will go much 
over $1 a bushel. In such seasons, it 
seems to us like good policy for a farmer 
to sell the articles that are in demand, 
and live on substitutes. This would be 
a good national policy, also. There is 
a great foreign demand for wheat this 
year. L8t American farmers eat more 
corn meal, oat meal and rice this year, 
aEd sell their wheat while there is a de¬ 
mand for it ! 
X X X 
Sell when you can get most for an 
article, and use the money to buy cheaper 
substitutes. A neighbor wants to sell 
us 250 shocks of corn at 15 cents a shock. 
We do not raise any field corn, as we 
think sweet corn pays better. The ears 
from an acre of sweet corn may be sold 
for cash, and some of that cash used to 
buy bran to feed with the stalks. With 
the $37.50 that the neighbor wants for 
the corn, we can buy far more feed than 
there is in the grain, while we have 
stalks enough. Our last sweet corn went 
to market October 1. The night before, 
a heavy frost was threatened, and all 
hands went out late in the afternoon 
and cut down three acres of sweet corn. 
The stalks were cut and laid directly on 
the ground. This prevented serious dam¬ 
age from frost, but it was a hard job to 
pick them up and tie them. Had a rain 
caught them on the ground, they would 
have been good for little besides mulch 
for strawberries. Here is where the 
great value of a silo comes in. These 
stalks could have been rushed into the 
silo with little injury, even though they 
had been frosted. Another year, we 
must have a small stave silo. It is needed 
in sweet corn farming. 
X X X 
The pen of Black Business birds has 
been reduced in size. Early in August, 
a neighbor’s dog killed one, and another 
died from rheumatism. The egg record 
for the past two months represents the 
work of eight hens. This is what they 
have done : 
Eggs. 
. 121 
. 175 
.. 
. 114 
. 52 
September. 
. 19 
. Total. 
. 795 
I am certain that they laid, at least, 40 
eggs in September, but we were unable 
to find them, as the hens were moved 
from place to place while the houses 
were being built. We are sure of only 
19, and that must stand as their record. 
This may not be a large record, but see 
what it represents in a business way. 
The 10 hens cost us $7.50 originally. We 
might have sold every egg at an average 
of two cents each, in our regular mar¬ 
ket, which would mean $15.90. As it is, 
we sold about $3 worth of their eggs, 
about $9 worth of young roosters, and 
have now nearly 75 fine black pullets 
that are worth to us every cent of 75 
cents each. These old hens deserve to 
die a natural death if hens ever did ! 
X X X 
Our battle with the roup is still going 
on. We have lost five pullets thus far, 
but the other “ patients ” are much bet¬ 
ter. Chlorate of potash in the drinking 
water has certainly proved helpful. In 
bad cases, the treatment of holding the 
nose down into kerosene has had a good 
effect. A dry, comfortable house, liberal 
doses of ginger, and plenty of good food 
seems after all, about the most effective 
treatment for large flocks. 
Our Plymouth Rock hens appear to 
lay better than the others during the 
moulting season. Of the mixed flocks, 
hardly 20 per cent of the hens show 
Plymouth Rock blood, yet fully three- 
quarters of the eggs are brown. Some 
of the Plymouth Rocks have hardly be¬ 
gun to moult yet, while many Leghorns 
are about naked. 
We got into the yards of the large hen¬ 
house with the horse and cultivator, and 
tore the ground all up. How the hens 
did enjoy dusting and wallowing in the 
dust! We shall repeat this operation as 
often as the ground bakes hard. 
Last week, we bought in New York 
29 first-class Buff and Brown Leghorn 
hens for $11.75, or 12% cents a pound. 
These hens came from New York State. 
We stood by the crate and picked out 
hens that suited, as the dealer handled 
them over. Yearling Leghorn or Mi¬ 
norca hens were what we were after. 
This lot of hens has already begun to 
lay. We cannot understand what a man 
is thinking of to let such hens go at 
that price ! These hens are more profit¬ 
able than pullets at 14 cents. 
X X X 
The farm is as dry as dust, and no rye 
has yet been sown. The Crimson clover 
stands still except on the fields where it 
was seeded with millet or where the 
weeds were thick. The clover on this 
poor soil shows, almost to a line, where 
potash was applied. On the melon field 
where 250 pounds per acre of muriate 
were used, the clover is fully twice as 
large as in the adjoining corn field, 
where nothing was used but 200 pounds 
of mixed fertilizer in the drill for corn. 
It seems very clear to us that, where 
green crops are to take the place of 
stable manure, the proper place for the 
potash and phosphoric acid is on the 
green crop itself. 
In spite of the dry weather, we are 
setting out potted strawberry plants. 
On October 9, we put out 750 Glen Mary 
plants, and as soon as the rain comes, 
we shall put out, with the Richards’s 
Transplanter, several thousand Gardner 
and Bubach. Last year, we transplanted 
them in this way on election day 
(November 7) and picked an average of 
one good stem of fruit from each plant. 
Of course, this would not suit the large 
growers, but it is a part of our plan for 
getting the little farm into fruit as soon 
as possible. The plants are being set on 
a field that has produced a fair crop of 
early sweet corn. 
X X X 
It seems that a good many money¬ 
making poultrymen do not always agree 
with the so-called “ authorities.” For 
example, here is a man who lives on an 
island in Lake Champlain. Read what 
he Bays : 
I have read with great- interest the hen-feeding 
articles. I have fed my hens as follows: I keep 
a barrel in the middle of a henhouse about 12 
feet square, and empty a bag of grain in the 
barrel at once to save time feeding them. I do 
my work alone, and can not be on hand to feed 
hens three times a dav. 1 also keep 75 hens in 
the 12-foot square building, and get 82.25 a hen a 
year. It costs me 60 cents each to feed them, not 
counting the milk from the creamery, of which 
they have all they want. I feed all kinds of grain; 
buckwheat is my choice. Brown Leghorns lay 
the most eggs for me. I think, if one counts his 
time worth anything, my hens, with scarcely any 
time spent on them, will be found to pay well. 
That certainly beats anything yet, and 
the returns per hen are far ahead of the 
average. We are now following the 
plan advocated by O. W. Mapes, of keep¬ 
ing a balanced ration of mixed ground 
grain and meat constantly before the 
hens. We tried feeding it dry, but this 
was not a success—a hen cannot eat dry 
ground feed with any satisfaction. She 
will 'waste too much of it. We mix a 
stiff mash and feed it in a covered 
trough where the hens can eat at will. 
_ h. w. c 
BEST GRAIN FOR WORK HORSES 
A reader in Wisconsin sends us the 
following questions : 
1. Working horses are fed mostly corn and oats 
for grain when at work. The corn is fed on the 
ear, and they have all the marsh hay they want 
besides. In what proportions should the grain 
be mixed for best results ? Would it be better to 
mix bran with it ? 2. Supposing we have all the 
corn, oats and bran, and do not count the cost, 
what is the best for the horse ? 3. Which is the 
best way, to feed all corn at one meal, all oats 
at another, or to feed corn and oats mixed at 
every meal ? About how much should be fed 
three times per day to a 1,200-pound horse doing 
hard work on a farm ? What has been your ex¬ 
perience in this matter ? 
Nothing Better Than Corn. 
All working animals on our farms are 
fed almost exclusively with corn on the 
ear. We find that no one kind of grain 
gives as good average results, and no one 
keeps up strength and flesh so well. 
Some corn, on the ear, we would soak 
before feeding during the summer 
months ; horses masticate and digest it 
better. If we did very much work with 
teams on the highways, we would feed 
half oats twice a day ; but if the teams 
are kept on the farm, and confined to 
farm work, we certainly know of noth¬ 
ing in the feed line better than corn on 
the ear. Occasionally we feed a little 
bran, by way of a change, but our de¬ 
pendence is corn on the ear, all the 
year ’round. Corn, without doubt, is 
the most economical of all feeds. Ex¬ 
perience will teach a man to feed all his 
horses can utilize—that can only be 
learned by actual experience. Horses 
should not be overfed if at hard work ; 
it can soon be learned just what number 
of ears to feed not to cloy the horse, but 
that he may come to his feed with rel¬ 
ish, and clean up all given him. 
D. c. LEWIS. 
Vary to Suit the Horse. 
The food should vary with the season 
and climate. In my experience, corn is 
a good food, but causes a horse to sweat 
and heat up too easily in hot weather. 
The blood gets out of order, and the 
horse “ sores ” easily. “ Horses worked 
constantly in cold weather, are too thin- 
blooded to be comfortable, if fed oats,” 
says an old teamster. The disposition 
and breed of the horse must be studied. 
A quick, nervous horse frets and foams 
(Continued on next page.) 
INSURES 
Bcnra MILK 
AND 
SUPERIOR BUTTER 
“Vour money's lUortb or Vour 
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Address 
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71 and 73 Park Place, New York City 
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Swivel Carrier any length.) 
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85 
CENTS 
for 100 Square Feet, 
Caps and Nails. 
SWAN’S 
EXTRA HEAVY 
Felt Roofing 
FIRE. WIND and WATER¬ 
PROOF. Sample free. 
A. F. SWAN, 102 Mon St., N.Y. 
2 
I ncuts squill t; linn ior a goon 
corrugated STEEL ROOFINC, 
_.for fanners’ houses and barns. 
Circulars explain all about it. 
1 THE BERLIN IRON BRIDGE CO, 
EAST BERLIN, Connecticut. 
WAGON 
SOMETHING 
ENTIRELY 
NEW. 
SCALES 
JONES OF BINGHAMTON, Binghamton, N. Y. 
FOR SALE. 
A better Scale for 
less money than has 
ever been offered. 
Address 
11 
inert. 
Owing to condemnation proceedings, factory 
muet be removed at once, and all machinery and 
appliances therein contained are to be sold a 
Public Auction, at a lump price, at 1 o’clock, p.m. 
on OCTOBER 26, 1897, at Purdy’s Station, on Har 
lem Railroad, 40 miles from New York City. 
Upset price, 81,000. 
For further information apply to 
EDWARD L. ALLEN, 
Secretary, Aqueduct Commissioners, 
No. 280 Broadway, New York City. 
FOR 
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CREAMERIES. 
Treatise “Good Butter* How to Make It,” 
All Dairying Utensils, write 
KNEELAND CRYSTAL CREAMERY CO 
35 E Street, Lansing, Mich. 
PROSPERITY AND SEPARATORS. 
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THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR COMPANY, 
Randolph and Canal Streets, i JNo. 74 Oortlandt Street 
CHICAGO. I NEW YORK. 
